TRAM COLLISION MYSTERY

Dominion, Volume 12, Issue 63, 9 December 1918, Page 6

TRAM COLLISION MYSTERY

THE DEATH OF ALFRED THOMAS CORONER RETURNS AN OPEN VERDICT Mr. F. V. Frazer, S.M., continued the hearing of evidence on Saturday morning in respect to the inquest into the 'circumstances attending the death of Alfred Thomas, foreman of the gastitting department of the Wellington Gas Company, on November 13, on the occasion of a tram accideut in Kent Terrace. SeniorSergeant Willis appeared for'the police, Mr. John O'Shca (.city solicitor) appeared for the city corporation,' Mr. H. F. O'Leary for Motorman Scott, and Mr. 1. Ncave for the. family of the deceased. Joseph P. Shand, stationer, ..Cuba Street, said ho was on board the car on which deceased was a passenger. It seemed to him that the speed of the car was greater than the normal from Pirie Street. After leaving (he corner of Brougham and Elizabeth Streets, the car seemed to gather momentum. Ho did not have the impression that the brakes were gripping. He did not see tho actual accident which caused thedeath of Thomas. To Mr. O'Leary: His impression was that the tram did not stop at Pirie •Street, but lie could not swear to that. He did not experience the effect of the brakes gripping. He could not say whether the brake was applied. ltoliert William Lauchlnn, testing superintendent of Ihe Wellington Electric Light Department, said that on the date in question he was a passenger on car No. 112 coming into the city from Hataitai. , He was about the centre of the car in the open compartment. Ho did not notice anything unusual about the car until the accident occurred. There appeared to be nothing exceptional up to the point opposite the dairy in Elizabeth Street, about 130 yards from Kent Terrace, but after that the car 6eemed to increase speed, and when it took- the curve into Kent Terrace the speed was anything from fifteen to twenty miles.. As the. car was coming down Elizabeth Street a man (tho deceased) got up in the open compartment and made for the footboard, intending to Ret out at the compulsory stop at tho bottom of Elizabeth Street. He was on the footboard, and when tho car struck the bend he 6wung outwards and a moment or so later the car struck the Island Bay car at an angle of 30 degrees, and the deceased appeared to be thrown into the angle, the Island Bay car crept along a few yards, and then stopped. Tho deceased wos crushed betw'een the two cars. When the Island Bay car was struck it apppared to he stationary. He clearly saw the Island Bay car, and was anticipating a collision. Everything seemed to be normal with the car ho was. on until it ■gathered f.«>eed at the bottom of Elizabeth Street.

To Mr. Neave: The Island Bay car was stationary when he noticed it. If it was moving at all it was moving very slowly. He did not think he would have failed to notice the skidding of the car in "which he was n passenger. To Mr. O'Leary: He had no idea whether the brakes were applied by the driver of his car. James Wilson Hodges, seedsman, residing at Athol Crescent, said that on the evening in question he was in Kent Terrace, at the corner of Elizabeth Street, and 6aw the Kilbirnie car. Ho was no, judge of speed, but he thought the car was travelling at nbout twenty miles per hour. He saw tlio Island Bay car in Kent Terrace, it was either stationary or moving very slowly. He saw the collision between the two cars, but did not see, how the men was killed. • Frederick William Young, motorman in the employ of the Wellington City Corporation, said that on the evening in question he. was driving car No.- 1W from Island Bay into the city. He left Island Bay at 7.10 p.m. As he came \!\i to the corner of Kent Terrace and Elizabeth Street, the 'automatic danger signal was clear. That signal is operated by a car coming down Elizabeth Street. He came up to the point at the regulation speed of between four and five miles per hour. When he came to the point opposite Elizabeth Street he 6'aw the Kilbirnie car, which appeared to bo halfway up that street. lie noticed nothing unusual about the Kilbirnie car when he first noticed it. It apparently continued on its course until the collision. He did not" know that the Kil-. birnie" car was not under control until his .car was struck. The result of the collision was that his car was pushed off the rail. The danger signal being clear, he hnd the right of way. He was in front of the Kilbirnie car when ho was struck. To Mr. Weave: When travelling four or five miles per hour he could bring his car to n stop within a' half a car's length. The car he was driving on the occasion was 35ft. long. If the Kilbirnie car was skidding in Elizabeth Street he could not hnve seen it. Sergeant James Martin, of the Taranaki Street Police Station, said that he arrived at the. scene of the accident shortly before 8 p.m., and detailed what he saw. Both tramcars were off the rails. He had the body of the deceased removed to the morgue. Duncan Gillvray, Traffic Superintendent of the Wellington Tramways, said he knew Motorman Scott, who had been in the' service for five years, and regarded him as a first-class motorman. Motorman John Scott, recalled by Mr. O'Leary, said that he had stepped the distance from the Brougham Street corner to the point where he applied the brakes, and found it was about 150 yards. In stating six car lengths in his evidence on Thursday ho had merely given a rough estimate. To Senior-Sergeant Willis: Ho was about seventy yards up Elizabeth Street when he applied the brake. The coroner found that Alfred Thomas died on November 13 in Kent Terrace, the-cause of death being injuries to the chest sustained through his having been crushed between two tramcars,' which came into collision at the junction of Elizabeth Street and Kent Terrace; that the evidence showed that ono . of the tramcars (No. 112) was out of control, and that the collision was duo to this circumstance, but the evidence was not sufficiently cigar to justifj him in finding that any person was to blame.